Last weekend, we remembered the galvanizing protest march in Selma, Alabama that - 50 years ago - propelled the civil rights movement forward. Given many of the events of the past several years (not just the past few months), it is sometimes hard to remember just how important and meaningful the politics of the 1950's and 60's were to the growth of liberty and equality in this country.
It is worth noting that Dr. Martin Luther King spoke frequently about the "fierce urgency of now;" that this was the moment in history when change could come and when the movement of peaceful change that he advocated for was the most likely to affect change. And here is another key to this legendary American hero: He wasn't just somebody fighting for the rights of his people to prevail over those that oppressed them. If you listen to his words, Dr. King and his followers had an even loftier goal: That the point of the movement went beyond his "us" versus their "them," to get Americans to be one "us," versus nobody. An idealistic concept indeed, but one grounded in the founded notion of the country.
Now, fast forward 50 years, and I see what is a structural and cultural problem. Racism is a very big and insidious part of it - but what we now are dealing with (and what is a huge obstacle to our moving forward into a more perfect union) is that there are institutional forces that have - more than ever before - publically and loudly pitted segments of our "gorgeous" mosaic against each other because it is useful to do so.
This is nothing new. In fact, it's Machiavellian to the nth degree (which means that people have been doing this since before Machiavelli), but it is horribly undemocratic and violates the whole premise of American society. Lots of examples exist - in religion, in health care, in politics, and there are plenty of examples sprinkled across these sectors of American life.
However, the most egregious offenders have been the Republican party and Republicans in general. It works for them - or they wouldn't keep doing it. This idea of division is their "fierce urgency of us versus them." I'm not saying it's just Republicans - I'm sure there are democrats and even independents for whom this sort of ugly division is expedient. But what does this look like? It looks like this:
1. The presidential nominee of the Republican party tells a group of supporters that 47% of the American people will never vote for him, implying that they are lazy and don't want to work, and would rather rely on the federal government for subsidies to support their largess.
2. The Republicans in Congress (both when in the minority and now the majority), unanimously refuse to compromise and work with the nation's first African-American president on just about every single major issue, saying they just cannot trust him (when they have no evidence to explain the mistrust), and go so far as to attempt to usurp his real and clear responsibilities as both Commander in Chief and as the only designated part of the federal government constitutionally allowed to negotiate with foreign leaders.
3. In the face of repeated and tragic gun incidences involved young people, including the tragic death of over two dozen elementary school students at the hands of a lunatic with a gun, the GOP continues to publically and aggressively kowtow to the NRA, which is run by a bun of paranoids who are arming themselves to fight anything from the United Nations to the US Government to people who don't look like they do.
4. Republican leaders, when confronted with a sizeable chunk of their supporters who believe an insane racist theory that President Obama is actually a secret Muslim and a foreign usurper in the White House - shrug their shoulder, wink, nod and continue to stoke the flames.
5. Or how about Fox News, the GOP national propaganda tool, analyzing the blatantly racist chant by the frat on the Oklahoma University campus by insisting it wasn't racism, and blaming it on the use of bad language thanks to the hip-hop culture that originates from the African American culture.
6. And then there's the constant, strategic attempt by Republicans (and only Republicans) in state houses around the country to stop people who are obviously more likely to vote Democratic from voting.
7. Or what about the whole idea that letting the children of illegal immigrants who came here without any knowledge or consent find a path to citizenship is morally wrong, and that they should just be deported.
8. Or waving the bible around, stomping their feet, and insisting that the American family will fall apart if gay people can be allowed to marry whomever they love.
9. And - finally - don't even get me started on the need for the Rudy Giuliani's of the world (all Republicans, again), to jump out to the defense of every single white cop that shoots and kills an undeserving African-American kid.
Divide and conquer, right? Us versus them. And the fact that they just keep doing it - loudly and blatantly - means that it works for them. They get caught, but they keep on it. And the fact that Republicans only seem to win when they can take advantage of these divisions makes it urgent - for them - to continue.
The fact that it slowly and surely frays our culture and society, and drives us in the wrong directly makes it urgent - for us - to stop them. It's really the only "us versus them" we should remotely be engaged in.